STATISTICS

Statistics is an inherent part of UNCTAD. Being the United Nations’ focal point for the integrated treatment of trade and development and the interrelated issues in the areas of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development, UNCTAD compiles, validates and processes a wide range of data collected from national and international sources.

In focus

Gross National Income, 2016

10 per cent of the world population, living in the richest countries, accounted for one half of the world's income. The 50 per cent living in poorer countries earned 10 per cent of the world's income.

Product concentration index, 2016

In 2016, in African developing economies and transition economies, merchandise exports were generally more concentrated on fewer product groups than elsewhere. The export structure of European economies was comparatively dispersed. All in all, the geographic distribution of the product concentration index appears correlated with the distribution of mainly fuel exporting economies

50th edition of the UNCTAD statistics handbook

UNCTAD has launched its annual Handbook of Statistics in a new, user-friendly format to celebrate its fiftieth year of publication. The 2017 edition has been overhauled entirely to make it shorter and easier to read, and features a wealth of maps, charts, and infographics.
"Reliable statistical information is essential to support, evaluate and guide policy choices for all nations, and notably developing countries, providing them with tools that are not always easy for them to produce." UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General Isabelle Durant said.

Statistics and SDGs

UNCTAD is responsible for dealing with economic and sustainable development issues with a focus on trade, finance, investment and technology. Through these actions, UNCTAD contributes to progress on 52 specific Sustainable Development Goal targets, grouped under 10 of the 17 SDGs.

Statistics capacity building

UNCTAD assists national statistical agencies in developing and transition countries in their data collection and dissemination efforts. In cooperation with UN agencies, development banks and other international organisations, such as Eurostat. UNCTAD coordinates technical cooperation activities with donors and other organisations to avoid duplication of work and to encourage complementarity and synergy. For this purpose UNCTAD contributes to the Partner Report on Support to Statistics (PRESS) maintained by Paris21, which provides a snapshot of support to statistical capacity development worldwide and, thus, is a valuable tool for collaboration building among statistical international organisations.

Latest statistical publications

Inter-Agency initiatives

UNCTAD assists national statistical agencies in developing and transition countries in their data collection and dissemination efforts. In cooperation with UN agencies, development banks and other international organisations, such as Eurostat, capacity-building initiatives are carried out in various areas.

There are several common ongoing projects in the area of data quality improvement, statistics dissemination and communication, education:

Fact sheets

These fact sheets are designed to provide a short summary overview for a selection of topics or an introduction to a selection of indicators. The topic factsheets are typically taken from the Handbook of Statistics where accompanying tables can be found.

News

UNCTAD has launched its annual Handbook of Statistics in a new, user-friendly format to celebrate its fiftieth year of publication. The 2017 edition has been overhauled entirely to make it shorter and easier to read, and features a wealth of maps, charts, and infographics.

​The General Assembly in 1972 established World Development Information Day to draw the attention of the world to development problems and the need to strengthen international cooperation to solve them (resolution 3038 (XXVII)).

​Every year on 14 October, members of the international community celebrate World Standards Day, as a way of paying tribute to the collaborative efforts of all those who develop the technical agreements that are published as international standards.